Chapter 57: Who Else Could It Be, Given That I Am the Author?

Why don't you have the head of the Lu family remove the mark he spoke of?

In the new courtyard, Zhang Rui casually picked a room to rest in for the night. The residence was so vast that he intended to figure out how to allocate the rooms after his second brother and his nominal wife arrived in the capital. Tomorrow, he had to report to the Ministry of Personnel for his official debriefing, so he needed to sort out the current situation properly.

"I offered enough of a threat, but if I have no leverage yet threaten them like this, the Lu family might just leap over the wall in desperation. There's no need for that."

"Are you confident you can deal with the thing inside you?" Murong Yunji asked curiously.

"I'm somewhat confident..." Zhang Rui smiled, then asked, "You've been here for a while now. Have you noticed anything amiss?"

"A few things." Murong Yunji nodded. "I wandered around the capital yesterday and found that many of the deities worshipped by the common folk look very familiar. They look somewhat like..."

"Former evil entities?" Zhang Rui finished her sentence.

"What on earth happened?" Murong Yunji asked, puzzled.

"How would I know?" Zhang Rui rolled his eyes. Because he had cheated a bit while writing his historical web novel, he had patched various discarded drafts of fantasy novels into this world. What kind of world history had ultimately taken shape as a result was something only ghosts could predict!

"Were there any signs in the world when you underwent your heavenly tribulation back then?" Zhang Rui asked curiously.

"There were rumors that the Age of Dharma Ending was approaching, and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was dwindling. To preserve the status of cultivators without consuming too much spiritual energy, the major sects began vigorously nurturing warriors..."

"Warriors?" Zhang Rui frowned.

"They somewhat resemble the martial artists of this era," Murong Yunji said in a low voice. "Except that back then, warriors only trained their physical strength and dense vital blood, lacking the refined martial arts of today. Many of the ancient sects' combat techniques seem to have been cleverly adapted by these warriors and made into their own."

"What do you mean?" Zhang Rui was a little confused.

"In those days, the cultivation of Qi practitioners was primarily based on the Dao, while their combat methods were arts—whether swordsmanship, spells, or other techniques, they were all offensive arts driven by spiritual energy. Now that the world's spiritual energy is nearly depleted, those warriors have instead mastered various offensive arts of their own. It's quite interesting."

"Didn't the warriors of the past have those?" Zhang Rui asked curiously.

"Of course not," Murong Yunji said with an amused expression. "Ancient warriors played roles akin to servants. Their vital energy was formidable, but they were unskilled at dealing with evil entities. Even if resources were piled onto them, they easily became fodder for evil entities. Allowing them to master offensive arts would have threatened the Qi practitioners while doing little to help deal with evil entities. Since Qi practitioners ruled the world, how could they possibly let servants master offensive arts that could threaten them?"

"I see..." Zhang Rui stroked his chin. "In other words, the martial men of today are just warriors who have cultivated offensive arts, except that there are no longer powerful Qi practitioners in this world to restrict them. Yet they still cannot deal with bizarre evil entities, so the world still requires something to combat evil entities—namely, the soul-artisans of today."

"Soul-artisans can deal with evil entities, but they cannot be as domineering as the Qi practitioners of the past; instead, they are held in check by martial artists. The imperial court uses martial artists to keep soul-artisans in check, and soul-artisans to keep evil entities in check, thus forming the current balance."

"You made me be reborn as a painting spirit, and I discovered that the blood of evil entities is still brimming with spiritual energy. I was wondering: the spiritual energy of this world hasn't vanished; rather..."

"It has been devoured by evil entities." Zhang Rui instantly grasped her meaning.

That explained why the profession of soul-artisans coexisting with evil entities had emerged, because the root of human cultivation of arcane arts lay within evil entities.

"That's why I find it hard to understand how the human race has managed to survive until now under such circumstances," Murong Yunji said, somewhat intrigued.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth was entirely monopolized by evil entities, yet the human race had still managed to hold on until the present day.

"Many of the orthodox deities worshipped by the common folk are actually troublesome evil entities from my memories. Why have they become gods nowadays? Evil entities love killing people because human vital blood nourishes them and makes them stronger. Warriors are actually their best fodder, yet this world has allowed martial men to rise to prominence? If those worshipped evil entities could live until now, logically they should have grown as powerful as ascending immortals. What kind of existence do they actually have now?"

Zhang Rui fell silent, recalling the Green Phoenix Consort he had encountered at the temple earlier. Later on, he remembered—what kind of green phoenix was that? It was clearly a great evil entity that stirred up yin energy and excelled at disrupting yin and yang: the Ghost Phoenix Consort!

And yet, she had now become the Four Seasons Rain Deity worshipped by the people of the north. What kind of situation was this?

"I can tell that you have no desire to become a soul-artisan, and your bones are already set, making it difficult for you to become a martial artist either. What on earth do you plan to do?" Murong Yunji asked curiously.

"I hadn't thought of it before, but now I have a slight chance." Zhang Rui touched his chest.

"You want to utilize the evil entity seed planted inside your body?" Murong Yunji frowned.

"Centipede larvae have a characteristic: although the host can control the larva, once the host dies, the larva will immediately undergo a metamorphosis, trying to evolve into a king on its own and becoming the new Hundred-Eyed Divine Lord. This is a trait by which this kind of evil entity perpetuates itself."

"You also said it happens *after* the host dies." Murong Yunji chuckled. "I was waiting outside the Lu family estate for you the whole time. Although I didn't go in, I could sense that the evil entity hidden within the Lu family possesses power close to a natural disaster—it's nothing like that Camellia entity from before. What are you going to use to kill them?"

"I have this..." Zhang Rui took out the Myriad Mechanism Box.

"Are you planning to—?" Murong Yunji looked at him in astonishment.

"The function of the Myriad Mechanism Box is alteration. Centipede larvae possess the ability to evolve into a king, but it requires the host's death as a prerequisite. What if we change that condition?"

"Can that be done?" Murong Yunji widened her eyes, feeling that his imagination was somewhat overactive, and asked curiously, "Has anyone ever done this before?"

"There's a high probability they haven't..." Zhang Rui looked at the Myriad Mechanism Box and said.

"Then how do you know it will definitely work?"

Zhang Rui looked at the fountain pen floating beside him, a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Of course I know..."

Who else could it be? I am the author, after all!

---

"Second Brother, is this the capital?"

Having just married into the Zhang family, the Second Miss Mei stepped into the bustling imperial capital, her eyes instantly dazzled. While still in the north, she had heard many storytellers recount the prosperity of the capital. Upon seeing it with her own eyes, she realized that the storytellers of the past had mediocre skills, or perhaps they had never even come to the capital at all. They hadn't even managed to describe half of the prosperity before her.

Would she be living here from now on?

At this thought, Second Miss Mei's gaze toward Zhang Yu grew even softer. She had originally thought that since the eldest of the Zhang family had been promoted to a capital official, he might call off the engagement, but she hadn't expected Second Brother to still marry her, the daughter of a minor merchant. Her judgment back then had been correct; she had chosen a good man.

Madame Luo, walking behind them, took this in, a trace of envy flashing in her eyes. Second Brother of the Zhang family was honest, plodding, and lacked grand prospects, but he was responsible. He had dared to defy the overbearing old matriarch and forcefully married Second Miss Mei into the family. Second Miss Mei had a keen eye and was truly fortunate.

Father Luo, walking alongside them, sighed inwardly.

Yesterday, as they neared the capital, they received a letter from the Zhang family stating that the Zhangs had acquired a residence and instructing them to go straight there upon entering the capital instead of gathering at the posting station.

What kind of blind luck had that Zhang fellow struck? It was one thing for his official career to be smooth-sailing, but someone had actually given him a mansion the moment he entered the capital?

I'm afraid he has already been targeted by some wealthy families in the capital.

He had heard plenty of such stories; scholars were often fickle. It was normal for the eldest of the Zhang family to become a capital official at such a young age and get targeted. Pitifully, his own daughter... Alas, hopefully the Zhang family wouldn't go too far.

As long as they provided a letter of separation and let her keep half of her dowry, he would grit his teeth and accept it!

Following the directions in the letter and asking for directions multiple times, the group wandered through the sprawling capital for half a day before finally finding the residence. Just outside the gates, Father Luo lowered his voice and warned, "Lass, remember not to argue once we're inside. We can no longer afford to offend these people."

Hearing this, Madame Luo lowered her head and bit her lip hard. "Your daughter understands."

People had told them while they were asking for directions that most of the residences in this district were occupied by high officials of the Six Ministries. With such a prime location and such a vast estate, the person who had taken a fancy to the eldest Zhang must have an extraordinary background!

With such a powerful family backing him, her father probably wouldn't even be able to make a fuss if he wanted to. In a place as deep and treacherous as the capital, offending a major figure meant it would be entirely normal for the two of them to vanish quietly without a trace.

They no longer had any leverage to negotiate.

"Sister-in-law, look, Eldest Brother has come out to welcome you!"

Before the group had even entered the estate, they saw the main gates open voluntarily. The old matriarch and the fourth girl, Zhang Meng, were both there, and standing right at the front was none other than the high-spirited Eldest Young Master of the Zhang family.

Seeing his entire family proactively coming out to welcome them, Zhang Yu was quite pleased. He actually respected his sister-in-law very much; ever since she married into the Zhang family, she had managed everything so well. Most of the food and clothing expenses of the Zhang family after arriving in the north had been subsidized by her dowry, and the businesses she managed in Fuchuan County yielded lucrative profits year after year. He simply couldn't understand what his mother was dissatisfied with day in and day out.

It now appeared that his eldest brother still cared deeply about his sister-in-law, or else he wouldn't have personally come to the entrance to welcome them.

"As if he's here to welcome me," Madame Luo gave a bitter smile.

"Huh?" Zhang Yu was momentarily stunned, only to notice that the gazes of his family members were indeed not directed toward his side.

Following their line of sight, he looked over and immediately saw an extremely luxurious carriage halting outside the estate gates. A maid alighted, carefully supporting the female master inside. Second Miss Mei and the others froze slightly; the maid's attire and grace alone made Second Miss Mei feel ashamed of her own inferiority, and the woman stepping out of the carriage was so breathtaking that even a woman like her couldn't help holding her breath and feeling her heart beat faster.

How could there be such a beautiful woman in this world?

Madame Luo looked at Zhang Rui standing at the entrance, her expression flickering in a daze, and a sour ache welled up in her heart despite herself.

Then, glancing down at her own travel-stained appearance, she finally offered a bitter smile. "Father, let's go back."